Nigeria News: Who is Abu Qaqa?
In the Nigerian city of Kano on Jan. 24, 2012, police recovered over 300 undetonated improvised explosive devices in various parts of the city, a day after multiple explosions and gun assaults by Boko Haram which killed 185 people.
Boston — On Feb. 2 Nigerian authorities arrested suspected Boko Haram spokesperson Abu Qaqa, according to Bloomberg News.
But today an unnamed member of the extremist Islamic sect who spoke with the Agence France-Presse said, "The person that was arrested was Abu Dardaa and not Abul Qaqa.”
More from GlobalPost: Nigeria News: Nigeria arrests Boko Haram spokesperson
It was noted by AFP that the man on the phone "sounded different" from previous conversations, and AllAfrica.com confirmed with unnamed "reliable sources" that “The voice in the interview … was not Abul Qaqa's.”
To make the matter more confusing it turns out Abu Qaqa is an alias. Abu Qaqa may in fact be Abu Dardaa, according to Agence France-Presse. But the Nigerian newspaper, The Nation, says that Qaqa's real name is Jamaatu Ahlil Sunna Lidawati wal Jihad.
Whoever Qaqa is, he's now being interrogated by police and security agents for suspected ties with the terrorist organization.
Boko Haram has killed 935 people since 2009, according to Human Rights Watch. On Jan. 27, in Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city, Boko Haram killed 185 people.
More from GlobalPost: Nigeria: Kano recovers from Boko Haram attacks
Boko Haram quickly and violently introduced themselves to the international community in 2009 and 2010 with increasingly deadly and daring attacks against the Nigerian government, with civilians caught in the crossfire. Boko Haram are suspected of forming ties with terrorist operations outside Nigeria including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Somalia's Al Shabaab.
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